Kelly Ripa Debuts Ryan Seacrest as Her Co-Host After Yearlong Search

After Months of speculations, the Live with Kelly host announced on Monday that Seacrest will be taking up the seat next to her on the popular morning program.

“Today, the next chapter of the Live story is about to be written,” she told the audience at the top of the show. “Today, my new co-host will officially be joining me on Live. And today is a very good day.”

Before bringing Seacrest to the stage, she began, “I would first like to thank all of the men and women who sat next to me co-hosting this past year. Thanks is not a big enough word, but they took time out of their busy schedules and out of their days job. We all became family, and they became part of the Live family forever.”

She also thanked the audience members themselves, saying, “You have been incredible, wonderful, supportive, patient. You have stuck with this show and you never cease to amaze me.”

After a commercial break, Seacrest took the stage with Ripa, telling her he is “So happy! So excited!” to join her. Then they greeted the crowd as a team, high-fiving and waving to audience members. Shortly after, Seacrest made it official, by tweeting that he is happy to be part of the show because Ripa “crushes every morning…one of my favorite people ever.”

During their opening banter, the pair poked fun of the feverish speculation around who would become Ripa’s new co-host, with Seacrest revealing that they were told to keep it a secret, and that neither of them were too great at it.

Ripa summed up the big news best: “We don’t call it a ‘secret’ in my house anymore, we call it a ‘Seacrest’.”